"It shall be unlawful to possess any "assault weapon" or a "large capacity ammunition feeding device". So called "assault weapons" lawfully possessed prior to September 14, 1994 and "large capacity ammunition feeding devices" manufactured prior to such date are grandfathered."

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Meriam Webster's: Main Entry: ci·vil·ian Pronunciation: \sə-ˈvil-yən also -ˈvi-yən\, Function: noun, Date: 14th century, 1: a specialist in Roman or modern civil law, 2 a: one not on active duty in the armed services or not on a police or firefighting force b: outsider 1, — civilian adjective

"It shall be unlawful to possess any "assault weapon" or a "large capacity ammunition feeding device". So called "assault weapons" lawfully possessed prior to September 14, 1994 and "large capacity ammunition feeding devices" manufactured prior to such date are grandfathered."

Assumption: this is the controlling language in NY statutes.

Note that the law speaks to the manufacture date of magazines, not to the manufacture date of the so-called "assault weapon". Rather, it speaks to the possession of the weapon. At this point, it's a sticky wicket, because it doesn't specify that the person who lawfully possessed the firearm prior to September 14, 1994 is the current possessor of the firearm, nor that the firearm was possessed in the state of New York prior to September 14, 1994.

I've seen that language before, but then why do most of the sporting goods stores in the state, including gander mountain, sell them ( the rifles, not the mags ) including the new remington r-15? Thats certainly capable of using a large capacity magazine. The NY guns shows usually have plenty of them too (not now, but thats a different story).

__________________"I think we have more machinery of government than is neccesary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious" Thomas Jefferson 1802

New Yorks law is current, it did not expire, so anything meeting the restrictive criteria in the law is still banned.

True, the law does not specificly say possesed in New York State, or possessed by a NYS resident, but since NY laws do not apply to people who are not NYS residents or physically in New York, I think the most likely interpretation would be that if the gun was not legally in NY when the law took effect, it cannot be brought in. Isn't that also the way California sees it?

You could argue the other way, after all, the law does not specifically state where the weapon had to be posessed on the effective date. But I for one would not want to be the test case. I have a pretty good idea which way most of the NY judges would rule on that one. And I don't think risking my gun rights just to be able own an AR with banned features in NY is worth it. Because, in the long run, if you did bring the gun in, and after all the appeals were finally said and done, if they went against you, that's what would happen.

You may, if you can afford it, bring a suit of some kind to get a ruling on this before you bring in the (potentially) banned weapon, so no actual crime is committed. Just be properly prepared for all possible outcomes. Possibilities include
A) rule in your favor (yay!!!) bring in as many as you can before the legislators amend the "horrible loophole" in the law!
B) rule against you. Sorry, no can have gun with evil features in the good state of NY. Case dismissed
B.1) rule against you, and charges brought against you for conspiracy to violate NY assault weapon law (not likely, but lots of unlikely legal things happen in NY)

bottom line, as I see it, if you have a rifle with the banned features, and cannot proove you had it in NY before the law took effect, be prepared to have your day in court. Good Luck.

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